Page 62 of Nuclear Option (Owens Protective Services)

“Um…let me hand you off to IRIS.”

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath.

I handed the phone over to IRIS, who really had no explanation for what happened. “Yeah, so…we were attacked and I did something.”

“I can see that. What the fuck happened?”

“Well, there was this…specialized weapon and…well…boom,” he nodded, motioning an explosion. “But we’re all safe, and the bad guys went kablooey. So, that’s pretty much where we are.”

20

CASH

“Goddamnit!”I exploded, almost tossing my phone against the wall. “They blew up my building!”

“What?” Rae asked. “Someone blew up OPS?”

“Not just someone,” I said angrily. “IRIS.”

Fox snorted in laughter, not even bothering to try and stop when I turned and glared at him. “That’s so IRIS. Was he testing explosives again?”

I was about to go take a walk, but the way he said that stopped me in my tracks. “What do you meanagain?”

The smile on Fox’s lips slipped. “Uh…you know, after the first time.”

I walked over to him, keeping my voice low and deadly “Fox, has IRIS been playing with explosives?”

He instantly shook his head. The thing was, I could never quite tell what was going on in Fox’s head. He was sly, cunning…so if he wanted to get IRIS in trouble for some reason, he would have no problem throwing him under the bus. And Fox never let things slip. He did things purposefully at all times. There was always another agenda going on with him.

“Well, now that you mention it, there may have been a time or two when I walked in on him gathering the necessary items to create such a device.”

“And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Boss, you want me to rat out my fellow coworkers?”

“When they’re about to blow up my building, yes!”

“But why did he blow up the building?” Rae asked.

“They were under attack, and I can only assume Rafe did it because he’s a little butt hurt that we blew uphisbuilding.”

“I’m sure he has some higher ups to answer to for the destruction of a secret government facility,” Jones added.

“Rae, I need you to get the Nevada safe house up and running. Make sure they have everything they need. Coordinate with Dash. Fox…” As I stared at him eagerly awaiting instruction, I decided he was sitting this one out. “Stay here and don’t fucking kill anyone.”

“Not even if they walk through the door to kill us?” he asked.

“Fine, you can kill anyone that walks through the door.”

I started to walk away when he stopped me. “What about guys that come in on choppers? Can I kill them?”

“Fox,” I said testily. “Don’t kill the good guys. Clear enough?”

“Crystal,” he grinned.

“Until further notice, we’re locking things down. We don’t move until we know precisely what Rafe is planning. Rae—”

“I got it, boss.”

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